Samuel ibwin



(No Model.)

8. IRWIN. OAR LOOK.

Patented Apr. 11,1882,

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS WITNES N, PETiIL FhvtbLilhogl'lpMr, Wlahington, D C.

h I UNITED STATES PATENT "OFFICE.

SAMUEL IRWIN, OF LINDSAY, ONTARIO, CANADA.

OAR-LOCK.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 256,324,. dated April11, 1882.

Application filed January 6,1882. (N model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL IRWIN, of the town of Lindsay, in the countyof Victoria and Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Oar-Locks; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which-- Figure 1 is a plan view of a complete oar andits attachment. Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the oarsockets,segments, and fulcrumbox, the latter having its top plate removed by asectional cut. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of Fig. 2 through theline w w. Figsl 4 and 5 are respectively a top view and a longitudinalsection of the gunwale-plate. Fig. 6 is a detail view, in perspective,of the fulcrum-box, which is cast in one piece.

My invention is an improvement in thatclass of oar-locks'whose object isto enable a person in rowing to face in the direction in which the boatis being propelled, thus facilitating the steering and avoiding thenecessity of turning and looking around from time to time. Theparticular form of devices for accomplishing this result upon which myimprovement is based is that in which the handie-section andblade-section of the oar are separately fulcrumed between plates, andtheir adjacent ends provided with toothed segments that gear with eachother to produce a compound movement, and in which the fulcrum-platesare provided with journals or trunnions that rock in hearings on thegunwale or outrigger to permit the vertical oscillation ofthepaddle inentering and leaving the water.

My improvement consists in the peculiar construction of thefulcrum-boxes and the construction and arrangement of the toothedsegments of these oar-sections, designed to obviate all looseness atthis point and cause the movement of one oar-section to be reproduced inthe other oar-section with a corresponding full and equal movement, ashereinafter more fully described.

In the drawings, A A represent the two sections of adivided oar, whichare firmly seated in the sockets a a These sockets are formed withtoothed segmentsC (l at their adjacent ends, which mesh into each otherbetween the two plates B B and are fulcrumed upon bolts or pins D11 Now,when the handle-section of the oar '(see Fig. 1) is pulled in thedirection of the arrow or toward the rower, the outer or blade section,it will be seen, moves in the same direction and propels the boatforward in the direction in which the rower is facing. This generalconstruction of oar as thus described I do not claim as new but it willbe seen that if there is any looseness at the fulcrumbolts, or if theteeth of the segments are free to slide over each other vertically, theouter section of the oar will drop and be loose, and the movement givento the handle-section will not be exactly reproduced in a correspondingfull. movement of theblade section. It is therefore very necessary thatthere should he no looseness whatever at this point. For the purpose ofavoiding such looseness and preserving a stiff and staunch connection atthis point, such as will resist the heavy wearing strain to whichtheseparts are subjected, I first cast the upper plate, B, and

lower plate, B of the fulcrum-box in one piece, connected by the fourposts 0. Then the hub of the segments which encircle the fulcrum pins ismade with a long bearing, while the width of the teeth is less than thatof the hubs by about one-half. Now, by reference to Fig. 3, it-will beseen that the upper plate of the fulcrum -box is depressed in its centerand has a bearing upon the top faces of the teeth of the segments,which, coacting with the long bearing of the fulcrum-hubs, causes theteeth always to rest in the same relative plane and prevents thedrooping of the outer section of the oar, and makes it to reproduce thefull movement of the handle section. While, however, the top plate, B,is made to bear against the edges of the teeth to secure the resultdescribed, the lower plate, 0, is v slightly removed from the bottomedges of the teeth, so as to allow any dirt or trash that might getbetween the teeth to drop out, instead of being retained at that point.The casting of the fulcrum-box all in one piece, it will be seen, alsoserves to hold the two plates rigidly in place, which it is impossibleto do when the plates are simply connected by bolts, for the shakingmovement of the oar incident to its use will sooner or later involvesome looseness.

In order to allow the necessary vertical rocking movement of the oar topermit it to enter and leave the water, the fulcrum-box has on itsopposite sides, and projecting at right angles to the oar, trunnions dd,which rest in bearings in upturned lugs, c e, of the gunwaleplate j,which latter is screwed to the gunwale of the boat. To permit of theinsertion or re moval of these trunnions, one of the bearings of thelugsis in the nature of an open slot, which is closed by a spring-seatedslide, g, which being pulled back, a trunnion is inserted in the hole inthe other lug, the other trunnion then dropped laterally into the slot,and the slide then allowed to press up against and inclosc the trunnionin said slot.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new isfor thepurpose described.

2. The gunwale-platef, havinglugse 0, one 0 of which is open-slotted,and provided with spring slide g, as and for the purpose described.

SAMUEL IRWIN.

Witnesses:

JAMES HEAP, F. D. MOORE.

